This Is Hard

In a charge nurse meeting a while back my manager said something that resonated with me. In talking about emergency medicine he made the statement, 'This job isn't supposed to be easy.' Sometimes it's the things that should be obvious that stop me.  That statement actually replayed in my head later that day when my kids were in fine form and driving me crazy. This job isn't supposed to be easy either.

There's this word in science called homeostasis.  Homeostasis in a nutshell is the stability of an internal environment.  Temperature and ph in appropriate ranges and all that. Natural systems go to great lengths to preserve homeostasis. People are that way too. We seek to keep our lives somewhat comfortable and free of those things that upset our internal environment. We like easy. We like comfortable, and to an extent are always trying to get to that place. But there's this thing I've been discovering, and that's if you want to do anything meaningful with your life, you will often not be comfortable. Generally the more something matters, the harder it can be. Raising kids, fighting for justice, loving the forgotten, helping the sick... Meaningful work that can never by its very nature be easy.

So you have to ask, would I rather have an easy life, or one that matters? I personally would rather have one that matters, even though I often find myself wishing things were easier. And frankly, life will always be full of struggle, even when we avoid it like the plague. It can be full of struggle as the fruit of foolish decisions, or struggle can be part of the journey of fighting the good fight, and part of what hones and refines who we are.  I would love to spend more days by myself, peacefully sitting in the sun with a breeze on my face.  But days like that should be a respite and a time to recharge between doing meaningful, hard, challenging, inspiring work that matters beyond my own little existence.

We frame our lives with our expectations.  When we expect things to be smooth and comfortable, we are disappointed and unprepared when they aren't.  But when we expect and prepare ourselves for challenge, I think we find more strength to face it. Even a little thing like coming into work reminding myself that I didn't sign up for an easy job helps me mentally prepare to be ready to face whatever may come.

I leave you with a quote:

It is our attitude at the beginning of a difficult task which,  more than anything else, will affect it's successful outcome
     - William James